New York at Its Core

Museum of the City of New York, Ongoing

New York at Its Core

Filling two major galleries at MCNY, New York At Its Core narrates four centuries of history to provide visitors with a vivid understanding of how the homeland of the Lenape People became the site of the nation’s and then the world’s most populous and influential urban center.

Blending artifacts, interactive touch screens, animated maps and projections, audio-video stations, and interpretive text, New York At Its Core was honored by being chosen the Overall Award Winner in the American Alliance of Museum’s annual Excellence in Exhibition Competition in 2018. As co-curator, I was thrilled to be part of an amazing team of professionals and scholars who brought New York At Its Core to life in 2016. Designed by Studio Joseph, Local Projects, and Pentagram. Visit it!

Selected Press

Sam Roberts, “This Museum Show Explains Why New York Is So New Yorky,” New York Times, November 17, 2016. Read Here.

Jennifer Smith, “Museum Explores the Core of New York,” Wall Street Journal, November 11, 2016. Read Here.

Ariella Budick, “New York at its Core, Museum of the City of New York,” Financial Times, January 1, 2017. Read Here.

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New York at Its Core: 400 Years of New York City History

Museum of the City of New York

The project of telling this confounding story could have gone wrong in so many ways; it might have yielded a desiccated display of memorabilia, or a spray of boosterish razzmatazz. Instead, New York at Its Core is an astoundingly thorough, detailed and moving homage to a city that inspires life-long love and deep-seated resentment, often in the same person.

— Ariella Budick, Financial Times

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